The atmosphere at the Ocean Marina Yacht Club, Pattaya was very lively ahead of the race as a large group of young sailors, mostly accompanied by family members, eagerly waited to get their two-metre Optimist boats into the sea for the opening round.

With the course setting close to the shore, the 8- to 15-year-olds took centre stage.

Navee Thamsoontorn, on board THA 4R, showed his promising talent by crossing home first in all three races to top the overall standings with three penalty points.

In the Racing class, two British boats dominated the division. La Samudra captained by David Lindahl performed superbly after sailing home first in both races, which elevated him to the top, four points adrift of David Pollard at the helm of Foreign Exchange II and Frenchman Pascal Leray on Breakaway.

The Ferret from Australia skippered by Scott Duncanson managed to hold onto the leadership in the Platu event, despite finishing in third place in both races. However, Duncanson needs to be at his best in today's race if he is to claim the Platu Coronation Cup after Vivat Poonpat on Naiad cashed in on a slip-up by Duncanson to narrow the gap to just two points.

Kirati Assakul at the helm of Sonic, the biggest boat in the tournament, profited from the size advantage on a day with stable wind to finish first in both races in the Multi-hulls division.

Kittipong Khambang on THA6 remained in charge of the Super Mod class, the small boat designed by His Majesty the King for Thai waters, with consistent sailing that saw him finish third, second and first in turn.

Kitinan Sanguansak

The Nation